Tempest Super
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America Flexes Its Muscle by Don Glass
The American muscle car can trace its roots back to the 1950s when V-8s became the universal powertrain of choice for Detroit's standard full-size models. These large cars, like the Cadillacs that Briggs Cunningham competed with at Le Mans and the Lincoln Capris that were victorious in the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, were legendary for their strong, bulletproof V-i powerplants. And Chrysler's use of the legendary Hemi in the 300 letter series car starting in 1955 is considered the beginning of the American muscle car.
In the early 1960s, as the chrome and fins were being stripped off the full-size standard sedans being offered by Ford, GM and Chrysler, astute teenagers discovered the value of helping their parents order the next family car. For just a few hundred dollars more, larger, more powerful v-8 engines could be had. Thus the term "sleeper" was born. It referred to a staid looking family sedan that could blow the doors off a hot rod. A perfect example is the 1961 Chevy Impala, which offered a 360 bhp 409 cubic-inch V-8 as a $425 option. The option list for the Pontiac Bonneville featured a Heavy Duty 421 cubic-inch 373 bhp V-8. Meanwhile, Ford's full-size Galaxie 500 in 1964 could be had with a 425 bhp 427 cubic-inch V-8, while the Dodge Polara 500 produced similar output from its optional 426 cubic-inch Hemi. While all these full-size family cars offered pavement-ripping performance and filled the field in NASCAR events, it was the introduction of the big block V-8 in the intermediate-sized Pontiac Tempest as the GTO that kicked off the serious performance war among American muscle cars.
The Tempest and its upscale sibling, Le Mans, along with Buick Skylark/Special, Olds F-85/Cutlass and a new entry, the Chevy Chevelle, all designated A-bodies for 1964, had grown in size and changed from unit body to full body-on-frame construction.
Pete Estes, who would later become GM president, led Pontiac at the time and the division's chief engineer was John Z. DeLorean. At that time, GMs top brass had decided to enforce a racing and performance car ban adopted by the Automobile Manufacturers Association in 1957. By 1963, many of the divisions had covert racing programs and had introduced a number of high-performance models. GM Chairman Frederic Donner decided it should stop and issued a memo reinforcing GMs commitment to the ban. Ironically, at the same time, Henry Ford II renounced the agreement, stepped up Ford's presence in NASCAR and committed the company to its Le Mans effort.
Donner's memo decreed that a vehicle could not have more than 10 cubic-inch of engine displacement for every pound of curb weight. As a result, the theoretical maximum displacement that could go into the Tempest/Le Mans body shell was a 330 cubic-inch engine. Bill Collins, who headed Pontiac's advance vehicle operations, wanted to equip the car with the 389 cubic-inch V-8 from the Bonneville/Catalina line, an engine that produced, depending on carburetor, 325 or 348 bhp. The way Collins and DeLorean slipped the car into the system in an option package, W-62, rather than create a separate model.
In addition to the bigger motor, buyers would get a stiffer suspension, dual exhaust, and a Hurst floor-mounted shifter, all for $289. If you wanted the more powerful Tri-Powered triple 2-barrel carburetors, it would cost an additional $115.
DeLorean decided to name the package GTO, which stood for Gran Turismo Omologato (Italian for Grand Touring Homologation), a name Ferrari used on its 250 GTO to designate the model as a homolation special for racing purposes.
While initial projections put GTO sales at 5,000 units, more than 32,000 rolled out of Pontiac showrooms in 1964. Sales more than doubled and by 1966, GTO was a separate model in the Pontiac line. Profitable sales of the GTO had shredded GMs ban on the performance products.
Pontiac caught the competition flatfooted in the intermediate segment. Ford was offering a relatively tame 210 bhp 289 cubic-inch V-8 Fairlane, while Mercury came out midyear 1964 with its Cyclone equipped with the same V-8 (although an optional version did put out 271 bhp). In the mid-'60s, Ford used its heavy, full-size Galaxie 427 to carry the company's banner in the muscle car wars and later turned to using higher output engines in its restyled Mustang/Cougar pony cars to compete in the category. The late '60s would see such intermediate entries such as the Torino Talladega and Fairlane Cobra.
It wasn't until the '65 model year that the competition began to heat up. Other GM divisions jumped headlong into the horsepower race. Chevy fitted its intermediate Malibu SS and Chevelle SS with the 375 bhp 396 cubic-inch V-8, while Oldsmobile countered with the Cutlass 4-4-2, which jumped from 290 bhp to 425 bhp by 1966. The Olds designation stood for 4-speed manual floor shift, 4-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts. Buick's muscle car took the form of the Skylark GS, a $200 option package that included a 401 cubic-inch V-8. Buick would later add the more potent GS Stage I Gran Sport, which would grow from 400 cubic-inch in 1969 to 455 cubic-inch a year later.
Mercury pumped up its Cyclone GT in 1966 to boast 335 bhp from a 390 cubic-inch V-8, and a year later offered the 427 big block with output ranging from 410-425 bhp. Dodge responded in 1966 with the Charger, a fastback coupe based off the Coronet, powered by a 426 cubic-inch Street Hemi V-8 producing 425 bhp. Soon there was a proliferation of muscle cars from Chrysler, including Plymouth Road Runner/GTX, Dodge Super Bee, Dodge Challenger, and Plymouth's grown-up pony car, the Barracuda. Muscle car mania would reach down into the compacts, with Dodge offering a Hemi-powered version of the Dart, called GTS, by decade's end.
The most striking models of the muscle car era, however, are the Plymouth Super Bird and Dodge Charger Daytona, sold during 1969-70. The cars could be equipped with a choice of 440 cubic-inch V-8s with either a 4 or 6-barrel carburetor or a 426 cubic-inch Hemi. Both cars were fitted with aerodynamic noses with hideaway headlamps and a high rear wing. Sales of these street models allowed Chrysler to homogate the shape for its NASCAR stockers.
The last of the Chrysler "letter cars" would be the 1970 300-H, the H representing the Hurst performance package which included a rear spoiler, special gold and white paint job and a hood scoop on what was essentially an Imperial Coupe. Powered by a 440 cubic-inch V-8 making 375 bhp, the 300-H was built in limited numbers. Only 501 were sold.
AMC, which never had the resources of its crosstown rivals, did compete in the muscle car wars by offering the 1967 Rebel SST, which could be equipped with an optional 390 cubic-inch V-8 making 315 bhp. It was followed up in 1969 with the compact SC/Rambler, a Hurst-prepared Rambler American coupe fitted with the same 315 bhp V-8 and offered in a red, white and blue paint scheme.
About the Author
Writer, publisher and classic car and muscle car buff I own a number of web sites that carve out niches pertaining to my interests and I review and recommend products I've researched and that have been tested. Classic cars and classic muscle cars are passion I pursue via auto shows and historical research.